Lower-paid workers at GM parts plants opposing UAW deal

General Motors and the UAW touted gains in their tentative agreement that would allow all current full-time workers to reach wages of $32.32 per hour by the end of the contract.

But those gains don't apply to everyone.

GM has separate classes of workers who aren't paid equally under this proposed deal (and others before it). They include roughly 3,000 employees of General Motors Components Holdings, a subsidiary created in 2009 after the bankruptcy of supplier Delphi Corp.

Those GMCH workers are spread across four plants — two in western New York, one in Kokomo, Ind., and one in Wyoming, Mich. — that make radiators, condensers, coolers and other vehicle parts for GM and other companies. Some workers at those plants say they feel left out of a deal that the union says achieves "major wins" for its members.

"In general, I just don't see a lot of wins," said Bob Schimschack, a 52-year-old worker at the GMCH plant in Lockport, N.Y. "GMCH has always been referred to as the redheaded stepchild. We got the crumbs that fell off the table."

That feeling has been reflected in early voting results, which show workers at other plants largely supporting the deal. Roughly 81 percent of production workers at the two GMCH plants in New York voted against the deal, while 62 percent of skilled trades workers at both plants voted no. The Michigan and Indiana plants wrap up voting on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Under the terms of the proposed deal, top wages for GMCH employees hired after Nov. 16, 2015, have been raised from $19.86 after four years to $22.50 after eight years, according to the summary distributed by the UAW. Once the workers hit top wages, they're eligible for a 4 percent bonus payment.

GMCH workers get similar benefits to "in-progression" assembly plant employees and are eligible for the full $11,000 ratification bonus vs. the $4,500 bonus for temporary employees.

But some are concerned that their pay remains lower than that of workers at GM's parts distribution centers, known as CCAs, where wages top out at more than $30. They're also displeased that GM still has the power to consolidate or sell their plants at any time, which they say leads to anxiety over job security.

"I thought this was supposed to be a no-concessions contract," said Schimschack, who has worked at the plant since 1999. "This was our time — first time we've been on strike like this in 50 years. I expected something a little better."

To be sure, GMCH workers have won some gains in recent contracts. In 2015, language was added allowing them to transfer to GM assembly plants, a right that carries over in the proposed 2019 deal.

Vivian Edwards, a 54-year-old former employee at the GMCH Wyoming plant in Michigan, took advantage.

Although she's a Michigan native, Edwards in 2016 decided to move to Tennessee and transfer to the automaker's Spring Hill Assembly Plant, along with her husband, who works with her. She had worked at the GMCH facility for 11 years.

"We decided to go to an assembly plant for the better benefits," she said.

Edwards was part of the slight majority of Spring Hill workers who voted against the deal. She called it "terrible," especially for GMCH workers.

She was upset that GMCH won't be paid at least as much as workers at the parts distribution centers.

"It's bad," she said. "What they do at CCA is pack the parts that GMCH workers make."

While that notion may gnaw at the union's ideal of solidarity, labor experts say the different wage rates are unavoidable.

GMCH sites must bid on all GM work and also can build parts for other companies.

"They're not just a captive supplier," said Kristin Dziczek, director of the industry, labor and economics group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "They need to be able to get that work done cost competitively."

It could be argued that the plants might have closed had GM not taken them back from Delphi during the Great Recession. American Axle earlier this decade closed three plants in New York near the current GMCH locations.

"The parts industry is a different industry; that's why they're paid less," said Art Schwartz, a former GM negotiator who's now president of Labor and Economics Associates. "They're paid well for the industry they're in, but just not at the OEM rate."